Pakistan halts drone protest led by ex-cricketer Imran Khan

October 07, 2012|Reuters

By Aisha Chowdhry and Katharine Houreld

ISLAMABAD Oct 7 (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities stopped aprotest over U.S. drone strikes led by cricketer turnedpolitician Imran Khan from entering the troubled region of SouthWaziristan on Sunday, prompting allegations the government wasambivalent about U.S. actions.

Pakistan's military and the civilian government publiclycomplain that the strikes - aimed at remnants of al Qaeda andthe Taliban - infringe the country's sovereignty and causecivilian casualties. Yet the government has taken littleconcrete action against the strikes.

Khan, who blames the government for allowing the U.S. tooperate in the country, had planned to lead the protest from thecapital into South Waziristan, a tribal area frequently hit bythe drone strikes.

But authorities blocked their path with shipping containerson the highway. After several delays the army told protesters itwas unsafe to be on the road after dark and they turned back.

"The drones are inhumane," Khan said, donning a whiteturban as he stood on a vehicle in the town of Tank, surroundedby thousands of protesters.

"Are these people not humans? These humans have names. Droneattacks are a violation of human rights," he said.

About 30 Americans traveled to Pakistan to take part in theprotest and apologize for the strikes to men and women who hadbeen maimed or lost family members.

"We have to put pressure on the United States government,"said Billy Kelly, a 69-year-old Vietnam veteran from New York.

The United States says the strikes have killed top Talibanand al-Qaida commanders and civilian casualties are minimal. Butit refuses to say how targets are selected or how the militarydetermines whether the dead were fighters or civilians.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which tracks dronestrikes, said between 1,232-1,366 people had been killed sincethe strikes began in 2004. Between 474-884 were believed to becivilians, it said.

A recent report, Living Under Drones, said that largeswathes of Pakistan's tribal areas were terrorized by thedrones.

Civilians were scared to go to school or work in case theywere targeted, the report by Stanford and New York Universitiessaid.

Getting accurate data on casualties and the effects ofdrones is extremely difficult since the government allows fewforeigners into the tribal areas and the Taliban often seal offthe sites of strikes. Drones also often attack people arrivingat the site of the strike.

The march highlighted the way that drones complicate thePakistani government's already uneasy relationship with theUnited States. Americans often justify the strikes by sayingPakistan is unable or unwilling to crush the insurgency.

"The government is making pro forma protests but Imran hasshown the world he will do something," said Shamsad Ahmed Khan,a former foreign secretary.

He noted the government declared a national day of protestsover a blasphemous film last month, but it had never called forsuch a protest over the drone strikes.

Some Pakistanis, however, questioned why the marchers werenot talking about atrocities by the Taliban or the Pakistaniarmy, both of which have killed far more people than the dronestrikes.